NOME, ALASKA — Nome Superintendent Shawn Arnold is following along as Alaska lawmakers craft a budget to close the state’s massive deficit. While cuts could still be coming, he says the current outlook for public education funding isn’t too bad.

“Things look promising — as best as they could,” he said. “I mean, oil’s not any better. But as it is right now, education spending is fairly intact. That’s good.”

Arnold shared a budget update with the board of education for Nome Public Schools at a regular meeting Tuesday night. The district has drafted a $15.3 million dollar budget for the next school year, but CFO Lucienne Smith has also started a contingency budget in case the state makes drastic cuts.

Arnold said he has testified before the state legislature to emphasize the importance of education funding in rural Alaska. At a recent meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, he said he joined by phone to speak in favor of broadband internet assistance and early childhood education funding — both of which face proposed cuts.

“We receive a quarter of the funds that the state gives for early childhood education,” he said. “We’re one of the largest recipients. That funds three certified staff positions: two at the Head Start and one at the preschool. It’ll definitely have a big impact on the community if that funding goes away.”

Arnold said the district should know more about state funding after spring break next week. That’s when legislators have planned to propose a working budget.

With that new information, the school board will review the district’s budget for the fourth time at a work session later this month. Arnold said they’ll present the budget to the public in April.

]]>21530Nome Public Schools Considers New Program to Fight Principal Turnoverhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/01/27/nome-public-schools-considers-new-program-to-fight-principal-turnover/
Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:36:31 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=20677The program would facilitate and fund professional development for current staff with the aim of “growing our own administrators.”]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2016/01/2016-01-27-school-board.mp3

With high local turnover and a statewide shortage of administrators, Nome Public Schools is looking take a new tack when it comes to attracting — and retaining — qualified principals and other school leaders. Superintendent Shawn Arnold broached the subject at a school board work session Tuesday night.

“Our turnover with our building leadership is something that we’ve dealt with for some time,” he said.

Nome-Beltz Jr/Sr High, for instance, has seen six principals in the last seven years. The school’s most recent principal — Edwin “Chip” Sharpe — resigned in December after just six months on the job.

That’s why Arnold wants to establish a cohort for aspiring leaders around the district. He said the program would facilitate and fund professional development for promising staff members who are already a part of Nome Public Schools, with the aim of “growing our own administrators.”

Not every member of the cohort would go on to become a principal or superintendent, but Arnold said the district would have a larger pool of local applicants when administrative positions do open up.

“Having administrators that have come up the ranks in the district they’ve worked and taught in — and if they’re from that community — they may stay for a longer time,” he said. “They’ll have some of that institutional knowledge that others from some Lower 48 state might come up without.”

The Lower Kuskokwim School District has done something similar in partnership with the University of Alaska Anchorage over the past five years. Arnold said most of their administrators now come from within their district, which has also seen less turnover.

If the cohort initiative moves forward in Nome, Arnold said members would have to commit to the district for a certain period of time — and they’d face financial penalties if they took their talents elsewhere too soon.

The school board isn’t attaching any funding to the program right now, but Arnold said backing could eventually come from the district’s title and professional development funds.

In that vein, board members also took their first look at the draft budget for fiscal year 2017, which is starting at $15.4 million. That’s a little less than this year’s budget, but district CFO Lucienne Smith said most revenues and expenses are expected to stay about even, apart from natural increases in salary and benefits.

Still, Smith emphasized that the budget is very much a work in progress. Joining the work session by phone from Anchorage, she said the draft will change over the next six months, depending on upcoming salary negotiations and contributions from the City of Nome.

“And then, of course, everyone knows the uncertainty of education funding from the Alaska legislature really is a cause for concern,” she said.

The district is required to submit its balanced budget to Alaska Department of Education by July 15. The school board’s next meeting is Feb. 9.